Is Supplemental Medicare Health Insurance Overkill?

Supplemental Medicare Health Insurance is not overkill.

As more and more of the population is aging and becoming eligible for Medicare coverage, the question of how much supplemental Medicare insurance you may need will become more relevant. Having a supplement will end up saving you money.

What Is Supplemental Medicare Health Insurance?

Simply put, supplemental insurance pays for the amount that Medicare Part A and Part B doesn’t pay. As an example, a hospitalization comes to $6,000. Medicare Part A allows payment of 80% on a total of only $4,000 of that hospital bill. That comes to $3,200. Medicare Part B will pay 20% of the allowed charge, or $800. That leaves an out-of-pocket amount of $2,000 for the patient to pay. Supplemental Insurance, or a Medigap Plan will cover the expenses not covered by Medicare.

How To Decide If A Medigap Plan Is Worth The Money

If you have a chronic illness, or one where you are in and out of the hospital a lot, it’s to your advantage to take both Part A and Part B. You have six months to decide if you want to buy a Medigap policy without being penalized for having a pre-existing condition. If you wait over that time, you run the chance of not getting supplemental insurance, or paying a much higher premium. This makes considering a Medigap plan worthwhile.

Watching Out For Premium Costs

All Supplemental Medicare Health Insurance plans have the same benefits, regardless of which Insurance company you use. Insurance companies will try to tell you their policies are better, or different or use some other reasons to get you to buy from them. It’s all a matter of who and where you buy from.